LTA officer and Uber driver face charges for Bugis Junction fight
LTA officer, Uber driver face charges for fighting in public, exchanging Hokkien vulgarities
A Land Transport Authority (LTA) officer and an Uber driver were charged in court yesterday with fighting in public.
The officer, Tan Hock Guan, 51, and driver Goh Kok Ling, 60, stood side-by-side in the dock.
The alleged incident took place at the taxi stand at Bugis Junction in November last year.
It was filmed by the Uber driver's passenger, who then uploaded the clip. It went viral and had almost 100,000 views on YouTube.
In the video, Goh and Tan appear to be in a confrontation which escalates and soon the men break out into a scuffle.
The men each faces one count of fighting in a public place and another under the Protection from Harassment Act for allegedly using Hokkien vulgarities on each other.
Goh told the court he would plead guilty to the charge for affray but would claim trial for the charge of harassment.
He is expected to be back in court on May 9 and will be engaging a lawyer from the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, a pro bono scheme funded by the Government.
Tan told the court he would plead guilty to both counts and is expected to be back in court on Apr 29.LTA said last year that Tan had been suspended.
If found guilty of affray, each faces up to one year's jail and a fine of up to $5,000. The maximum punishment for the offence under the Protection from Harassment Act is a fine of $5,000 and jail of between six and 12 months.
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